The Discovery of Middle Earth: Mapping the Lost World of the Celts

Robb's (Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris) premise is that the protohistoric Celts of Northern Europe were pioneers in many cultural innovations, not least in their keen grasp of celestial movements. He posits that Druids, the equivalent of academics among the Celts, structured their entire society—towns, temples, tribal relocations, and battle sites—on this knowledge. Robb argues that traces of their civilization still remain, e.g., in the etymology of place names, in modern road locations, and in ancient earthworks. (The middle earth of the title indicates a site equidistant from two sites situated along solar paths.) Ironically, their rational grasp of solar happenings led to the Celts' downfall: in some of their crucial battles—as recorded in Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars—they had numerical superiority, but their solar reckonings led them to stage battles in less than advantageous spots. The Celts as a culture eventually assumed a submissive relationship to the Romans; hence, few primary sources regarding their literary and scientific prowess remain. Archaeological investigations show that many of their great works were built over by the Romans and subsequent cultures. Robb's writing is deft and his accounts of his own explorations lend a certain underpinning and charm to the complex narrative.